Bradenton, FL

I cant't help but wonder, will blogs eventually become a thing of the past like fanny packs? Useful and everyone HAS TO have one, but down the line our kids are gonna laugh at us for writing them?

I enjoy reading blogs for various reasons. However, there are more so many people writing things on so many topics, to be honest, I get a little overwhelmed!

I understand their fundamental as well as technological relevance. Especially in the real estate field. We need them to help our websites placement, and to provide useful information for our clients and consumers. I just hope we aren't flooding the proverbial waters of the Internet, and that our well thought out ideas and words don't eventually get lost at sea!

I'm not just killing time, or out of ideas by blogging about blogging, I'M INTERESTED IN YOUR OPINIONS. Do you find them useful? Do you read a lot of Blogs? Are you utilizing RSS feeds?

Jamie Bullock

The Burish & Serena Team

www.USA-FloridaHomes.net

Does your website have an RSS Feed? All the 'cool kids', or should I say, technologically savvy real estate agents have added the capability to their website. I thought I'd take a minute to educate us technology 'slackers'...

The initials "RSS" are used to refer to the following formats: "Really Simple Syndication". Sounds simple right? Okay, well it is a little harder than they make it sound, but overall, not too hard to accomplish.

A RSS feed or 'web feed' is fancy lingo for updated text and regularly published documents LIKE OUR BLOGS. Having a feed burner, aggragator or RSS feed capabilities on your website allows readers to subscribe to your blog and the information will be 'fed' to their desired location, in most cases a google, msn, aol, or yahoo home page for their convenience.

This is great for real estate agents because you can syndicate your publications quickly and automatically to all of the people who want your information, without any extra work!!

Most of you 'cool kids' probably know this, and subscribe to numerous feeds already to save yourself time by receiving AUTOMATIC updates. For you 'slackers' like myself, it appears there is a great benefit not only to us, but our clients and consumers. We should 'get with the program' !

Check out this 'totally far out' site for more of an explanation www.whatisRSS.com

Jamie Bullock

The Burish and Serena Team

www.USA-FloridaHomes.net

Join the Adkins Florida Group for an Open House on Sunday, September 28th, from 2-4 pm at 4611 West 18th Avenue in Bradenton, Florida. This property is simply fantastic for the price; 4/3 with a fully modern kitchen, caged pool and large outdoor entertaining area.

Please point your browser to the following link for details:

http://wagnerrealty.com/RealEstate/Property/ViewDetails.visient/State/FL/County/Manatee/City/Bradenton/propertyid/341813?searchType=MLS&page=1da

Thanks and we hope to see you there,

James

While the Real Estate Market is struggling nationally and in Florida specifically, one significant countervailing force has been the growing importance of foreign home buyers. According to the National Association of Realtors "Profile of International Home Buying in Florida" Survey, especially buyers from Canada and Western Europe are attracted to the area by the weak dollar.

The most interesting part of this survey for us is that the Bradenton/Sarasota area makes the third place for the most frequently reported location of a home purchase after the Miami-Fort Lauderdale and the Orlando-Kissimmee areas. If you take in consideration that our area is much smaller than the Miami or Orlando area, this news is even more significant.

The buyers who bought property in Bradenton and Sarasota were mostly from Western Europe (44 %) and Canada (44 %). This survey shows how important international buyers are for our local market. "For home sellers it is extremely important that their property gets enough exposure on the international market. International Marketing can be the difference between selling or not selling their homes", according to Weiss.

According to the survey foreign-born Realtors are more likely to work with international clients than U.S.-born Realtors. Foreign buyers often feel more confident when working with Realtors from their home country.

The reason for the increasing interest of foreign buyers in Florida properties can be seen in the falling value of the U.S. dollar relative to major world currencies during the past several years. As a result the cost of Florda property, priced in dollars, is much lower when converted to the buyer´s home country currency. From the percpective of foreign buyers Florida real estate is effectively on sale.

The City of Bradenton is one of eight cities featured in a national magazine's profile on cities that currently boast the best deals on homes.In the September/October issue of Where to Retire magazine, a national magazine geared toward helping people with retirement relocation decisions, the Bradenton-Sarasota area was named along with Ocala; Phoenix; San Diego; Myrtle Beach, SC; St. George, UT; Santa Fe, NM; and Brevard, NC.

"Bradenton is still a paradise," Bradenton Mayor Wayne Poston said. "The housing market has adjusted so we are more competitive with other communities and the Baby Boomers are still retiring daily and looking for a friendly community in which to spend their new lives. We already knew Bradenton is one of the best places on earth to retire, but it is nice to be recognized."

According to Where to Retire editor, Mary Lu Abbott, many popular retirement cities currently have historically low housing prices, while other smaller towns boast a stable market with good seller incentives.

"Amid the miles of Gulf Coast beaches and the prime amenities of Sarasota-Bradenton, FL, housing prices have dropped 30-40 percent since 2005," she wrote.

The magazine was launched in 1992 with the goal of helping its readers find the ideal place to retire. Now published six times a year, the magazine covers the best retirement regions, towns, and master-planned communities, and has a national average circulation of 220,000 and an average readership of 500,000.

This isn't the first time Bradenton has been recognized by a national magazine this year for its quality of life.

Art Calendar magazine's March edition named Bradenton one of the country's Top 10 cities for working artists because of the Village of the Arts, a downtown-area neighborhood where special zoning laws allow artists and other craftspeople to live and operate small businesses, like art galleries, from their homes.

In the May/June issue of Going Places, AAA's traveler's guide that profiles popular vacation destinations around the country, Bradenton was recognized as a "sunny waterside town that boasts a unique collection of museums and marinas ... and one of the state's most vibrant artists' communities (the Village of the Arts)," along with abundant fishing, beaches and beautiful sunsets.